Tech News Nokian unveils winter tire with retractable studs powered purely by material science

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://www.techspot.com/news/111556-nokian-unveils-winter-tire-retractable-studs-powered-purely.html

On a frozen Finnish test track, a sensorless innovation is changing how cars connect with ice. Nokian Tyres, a company that's spent decades building tread patterns for the planet's coldest regions, is preparing to release its most advanced winter tire yet: the Hakkapeliitta 01. It's a snow tire that knows when it's cold, and it responds – all without a single line of code or onboard electronics.

The tire's innovation lies in its material science. Studded tires have been around for generations, prized for their ability to grip frozen pavement. But they've always come with a tradeoff: noisy rides and road damage when the studs grind against asphalt on warmer days.

Nokian's engineers wanted both grip and smoothness, without requiring drivers to mount a second set of wheels each season. What they ended up building was a dynamic temperature-responsive structure that physically alters the tire's surface based on the ambient conditions.

The Hakkapeliitta 01 has a layered structure that stiffens as temperatures fall. The intermediate layer hardens, pushing the metal studs outward into driving position. As the surroundings warm, that same layer softens, letting the studs retract beneath the rubber's exterior tread. The result is a quiet, adaptable tire that behaves very differently in winter chill than it does on dry pavement.

 

[LinuxFan58]

Great invention and nice explanatory video, although I had replaced the 13-in-a-dozen US ad-voice over with an authentic Finnish English accent, because let's be realistic how many native Americans can say Hakkapeliitta 10 times in a row (the tyre is called the Hakkapeliitta 01)

 

[cartaphilus]

very good video and amazing tires I used their studden version many winters and loved it each time. I tried a non studden version of Michelin double Peak snowtire and it could not hold a candle to the grip and traction of a studden tire; be what it may there is no amount of rubber science to equal a stud just borrowing into ice to form a nice grip.

So basically the winter tire got itself a blue pill; it turns hard when cold ......